SAW YOU IN SEPTEMBER...at least we did if you were one of the 116 visits we had with existing Ponca City companies. This is part of what is referred to as Business Retention and Expansion or BRE. Most economic development organizations, including PCDA, spend most of our time on BRE since existing companies account for approximately 80% of all new jobs in the United States. The public attention and focus is typically on business recruitment, 'cause it's more fun and gives a clear winners and loser narrative making it seem almost sporting. Those recruitment jobs, of which Ponca City gets more than our share (please don't tell "them"...see story below) account for about 10% of new jobs with business start-ups adding the remaining 10%. Last month, PCDA wasn't AWOL from the business recruitment "game" talking to 20 new companies but if you're good at math, you know that 116 is a lot more than 20. PCDA is not in this alone, we must note, so we got together with like-minded partners (a la Pioneer Tech, OESC, etc.) 22 times in September. Also on the calendar were 18 meetings with those fun loving, crazy types in the government, and 11 conversations with the site consultants who tell business recruitment projects where they should go, (pause). After all was said and done, PCDA closed out September with 14 projects open and a potential job count of 808 new jobs, most of them from existing companies.

To hear about job opportunities in Ponca City, get on our PoncaWorks email blast list, or refer a friend looking for work, contact Sarah at 580-765-7070 or slinn@goponca.com.